


A Long Way From Home

by Captain_Jade



Category: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)
Genre: Anxiety Attacks, Anxiety Disorder, Family Fluff, Gen, Miles Morales Needs a Hug, Peter Parker Angst, Peter Parker Has a Family, Peter Parker adopts Miles, Sweet Miles Morales, Vomiting
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-24
Updated: 2019-09-03
Packaged: 2020-01-31 05:16:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,585
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18584536
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Captain_Jade/pseuds/Captain_Jade
Summary: Miles gets thrown into Peter's dimension with no way to get back home. Unfortunately, this seems to be the least of his problems. His anxiety disorder is getting worse, especially without medication; he's coming down with something and he doesn't have a medical ID in this dimension; he keeps having reoccurring nightmares about seeing the Spider-Man from his dimension being killed, and he hasn't told Peter about any of these things.





	1. Chapter 1

  New York. He was in New York. But it wasn't his New York.  
   
 Why did this seem so familiar?

  Miles took a few shaky breaths. "No. It's okay," he mumbled to himself, "don't freak out. We can get back. We just have to find Peter...he can help." He wrapped his arms around himself in a non-prevailing effort to warm up, but the cold air still nipped at his nose and ears, and he became aware that his toes were numb. He must have walked for at least a half an hour already.

  He was still dumbfounded at what had happened. It was incredulous, really. The collider had been destroyed, so how in the universe(s) could he have landed in another dimension? Miles had a sinking feeling in his stomach. No matter how much he tried to convince himself that everything was fine, he could feel himself panicking more and more, because the farther he walked the more he worried that he would never find Peter--or worse, that his assumptions were wrong and this was not Peter's universe.

  While this was all running through his head, he wasn't looking where he was going, so it wasn't a big surprise to him that he ran into somebody. What did surprise him, though, was that this somebody looked awfully familiar. "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry," Miles muttered, helping the redhead pick up her groceries.

  "Oh, you're all right," she responded cheerfully. Miles handed her an orange and gasped.

  "Is everything alright?" She asked.

  "Mary Jane?" He guessed.

  "...Do I know you?" She squinted.

  "Um...no, but...but I...I'm so glad I found you! I need to find Peter Parker, do you think you can help me? I need to get home and...I know this sounds crazy...You probably think I’m crazy..." Despite himself, Miles found himself tearing up a little bit. He silently cursed himself for being a crybaby. Mary Jane stared at him for a moment, and then her eyes widened.

  "Miles?" She asked. "What--where--how are you here?"

  "How do you know who I am?"

  "Peter told me about you. What happened?"

  "I don't...I don't know..." Miles broke off, because he knew if he said anything else he would start crying.

  Mary Jane put her hand on his shoulder reassuringly. "Come on, sweetie, it's alright. I don't live very far from here."

***

  "MJ? You called, what ha- Oh my GOD. Miles?! Miles, what happened? We destroyed the collider, how is...what..." Peter sputtered, seemingly out of breath as he walked in the door. Miles looked up at him tearfully.

  "I don't know, Peter...I just...I was..." he let out a sob, feeling vulnerable. He wasn't supposed to be vulnerable. He was SUPPOSED to be Spider-Man.

  Peter and MJ sat on either side of him on the couch. "It's okay, buddy," Peter assured him. "I was quite a bit shaken up when I got thrown into another dimension also."

  "I'm sorry," Miles murmured.

  "For what? You didn't do anything." Peter didn't give Miles a chance to answer; perhaps he was afraid of the answer Miles was going to give. "What about you take a shower? Do you have any other clothes? Of course not, that was stupid of me. I don't think my clothes will fit you."

  "I'll take you shopping tomorrow," MJ offered, "you might be here for a while."

  "Or I might not," Miles whispered.

  "Right," she replied, "but you'll still need clothes."

  "Mm-hmm," Miles grunted. MJ led him into the bathroom and then left him to shower. She then turned to Peter.

  "Alright, you're the expert, here. What do we do?"

  "Me? What do I know about taking care of kids?!" Peter threw his arms up defensively.

  Mary Jane rolled her eyes. "Not that. How do we get him home? What even happened in the first place? Inter-dimensional travel is-"

  "I don't even have a clue as to where to start."

  Mary Jane stared at him for a minute. "But you have to have some idea," she sputtered.

  "I'll do my best, MJ, but...by the looks of it, Miles is going to be here for a while. I mean, not here in your house, of course. I'll take him back to my apartment."

  "And let him live in that dump? No way."

  "Well, I want to keep an eye on him. You don't know him like I do, MJ, he's...sensitive. He needs something familiar."

  "You only knew this kid for about five days, Peter."

  "Still longer than you have," Peter retorted, somewhat snappish. He looked at her regretfully, realizing that wasn't a great way to talk to his ex-wife. To his surprise, though,   
all she gave him was a smile.

  "And you said you didn't want kids," she shook her head. "You can stay here too if you'd like. You're sleeping on the couch, of course, because Miles is getting the extra   
bedroom."

  "That's fine," he said. MJ smiled again. They stared at each other for a minute, smiling stupidly, until they realized what they were doing.

  "Oh. Um, sorry. I spaced out," Peter said quickly, giving a fake cough.

  "Yeah, me too."

***

 

  Miles stared at the dark bedroom ceiling in utter silence. That was, on the outside. Inside his head there was practically a screaming match going on. He was scared, and he hated himself for that at the moment. What he wanted to do was curl up with Peter on the couch, so that he could have some kind of reassurance.

  But that was dumb. He barely knew Peter, and he was way too old to be scared about something silly like being thrown into another dimension, right...? Besides, he was Spiderman. He was supposed to make Peter proud.

  Miles thought back to when he had appeared in the collider to save them, when Peter had cried ecstatically, "Oh, I love you, I'm so proud of you!" He was supposed to make people proud. He could take care of himself.

  He tossed and turned all night, but he must have ended up falling asleep at one point, because he woke up that morning to the smell of freshly-made pancakes and the sound of Peter and Mary Jane laughing about something in the kitchen. Was it him? A subtle panic started to rise in his chest as possibilities started to fill his head. Were they laughing about him crying last night? About...Miles took a deep breath and cleared his head.

“Morning, Miles!” Peter set his coffee cup down as he spotted Miles in the doorway. “You can come in, you know. We don’t bite, I promise.”

Miles gave a brief smile and nod and cautiously sat down in the chair across from Peter. Mary Jane placed a plate of pancakes before him. “I hope you like pancakes,” she said, “I was going to ask first, but you were still asleep and I didn’t want to wake you up.”

Miles nodded again. “Yeah, I like them.” That sounded stupid. He almost cringed at the thought. That wasn’t good. He remembered having these thoughts before. Thoughts that made him panic while just walking down the hall. Thoughts that made him want to run away from conversations. Thoughts that made his chest tighten and his knees shake and his head swim and his stomach hurt and his heartbeat far too fast and-

“Miles?” Peter shook him out of his unpleasant daydream. “You okay?”

“Yes!” Miles said quickly. “I’m just tired. But everything’s good.” He put a piece of pancake in his mouth and slowly chewed it up, feeling like he was being watched too closely. He wasn’t, of course--Peter and Mary Jane seemed to be staring dreamily at each other, which in any other situation he would find hilarious--but he couldn’t shake the feeling.

***

After a very awkward shopping trip with Mary Jane, Miles had enough clothes for a week and still no idea of what they were going to do.

“Alright, Miles,” Peter said, sitting down on the couch next to the young boy. “Let’s get to the bottom of this. What do you remember happening before you got here?”

“I...I don’t…” Miles sputtered. “I’m sorry, I can’t...I can’t remember.”

“Well, there’s not much I can do if I don’t know what happened,” Peter furrowed his eyebrows. “You don’t remember any portals appearing out of nowhere?”

“No. I don’t think so, anyway. I just…” Miles trailed off and shrugged. Peter leaned back, at a loss of what to do.

“Maybe we should just...give it a few days,” he said quietly. “To see if you remember.”

“But-” Miles cried loudly, obviously objected to this idea. Peter held up a hand to silence him.

“Miles, I’m sorry, but I don’t know anything about interdimensional travel. I don’t know where to start, especially if you don’t even know what happened.” Miles put his head in his hands.

“What if I never remember?” he asked, his voice wavering a little. Peter placed his hand on Miles’ shoulder.

“Don’t worry, bud. We’ll get you home somehow. It’ll be easier if you can remember, but I promise I will find a way to get you home.” That statement somewhat contradicted his last, but it seemed to at least somewhat comfort Miles. The boy nodded.

“In the meantime,” Peter stood up, deciding to try to make light of this situation, “it’s not all bad. I mean, you get to hang out with the coolest guy in the multiverse,” he winked at Mary Jane, who rolled her eyes and smiled at him. “I can teach you some more Spider-Man stuff. We can go patrolling together. It’ll be great.”

“Yeah,” Miles smiled. Peter grinned and tousled Miles’ hair.

"Okay," Peter said, "guess I'm gonna be your dad for a while."


	2. This is a Tad Problematic

_ Yes, there is definitely something wrong,  _ Miles thought, as he laid in bed at 2 am, listening to the sound of the cars outside going by. His head had been hurting all day, and it had only gotten worse as the day progressed. Now it was throbbing so hard he could feel his heartbeat. He really wanted to ask Peter for some pain meds, or something like that, but that would require waking Peter up in the middle of the night, which was something he would feel bad about even if it was his own parents. He laid there in silent agony for a few minutes before getting up. Maybe water would help.

He tiptoed into the kitchen (invisible, because he was paranoid) and got a glass of water. But as soon as the rim touched his lips, he glitched.

It hurt a lot more than he thought it would. Maybe that just had to do with the fact that he already had a throbbing headache. But nevertheless, he dropped the water, shattering glass all over the floor, and fell into it, still glitching. Peter and MJ both rushed into the room. Miles finally stopped glitching. His hands and knees were bleeding. “Oh my God,” he groaned, sitting back up and cradling his head in his hands, which felt like it was about to explode. “I broke your cup!”

“I don’t care about my cup!” MJ said. “Are you okay? What was that all about?”

“He was glitching,” Peter said. “I think I might have forgot about that.” Peter flicked the light switch on, which caused Miles to whimper. “What?” Peter turned the light back off.

“I just...my head really hurts,” Miles whispered.

“Okay,” Peter said softly. “Um, can you get up?”

Miles pulled himself up, trying to ignore the pain the glass shards stuck in his knees and hands was causing. “Owwww,” he murmured. Peter winced.

“Alright, come here. MJ, can you clean up the glass?”

“Yep,” she said.

Peter delicately cleaned off Miles’ knees and hands. “So,” he says, finishing up and throwing the towel aside. “Tell me again why we’re throwing cups of water on the ground at three in the morning.”

“Sorry,” Miles said, giggling. “I was thirsty.”

“You said your head hurts?”

Miles shook his head. “It’s fine. I’m just tired.”

Peter hesitated. “Okay,” he said. “Well, I guess you can go back to bed now.”

“...Thank you,” Miles told him.

“Oh, wait. Here,” Peter got him a (plastic) cup of water and sent him back to bed.  _ Stupid, stupid, stupid, _ Miles yelled at himself in his head.  _ Why did you do that? _

But his head apparently didn’t like yelling, even if he was just imagining it, so he downed the water and went back to sleep.

* * *

“How’s your head?”

“Oh, it’s fine.” It wasn’t fine, but it wasn’t as bad. Miles could take it.

“Alright. You wanna come patrol with me?”

“It’s...in the middle of the day. Don’t we do that at night?”

“This is New York, Miles.”

“Good point.”

Miles had his spider-suit with him. He always had it with him, never let it out of his sight. It was too risky. He couldn’t  _ imagine _ what his parents would do if they found out. For a moment, his mind dwelled on a thought that terrified and enticed him simultaneously. What if…he never left?

Well, no. That wasn’t an option. Not only would he miss his life, it would destroy his parents. Not to mention, it wouldn’t be fair to Peter. Peter didn’t want him around. Peter just pitied him. (“I love you, I’m so proud of you!” he had said. Miles shrugged it off.)

“You okay?”

Miles was staring into space. “Yeah, I’m fine,” he said. “It’s just kinda...really hot out.”

“Yeah. We won’t be too long, I promise. Things have been pretty tame recently, if you can believe it.”

“Maybe everyone’s finally starting to realize that they can’t beat you,” Miles suggested, grinning.

Peter rolled his eyes. “Gosh, you are a flatterer,” he muttered, trying very hard not to smile.

They swung around the city, but at each release, Miles felt a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. Something bad was going to happen. He didn’t have spider-sense like Peter did, but he just felt like something was wro-

* * *

Miles awoke to Peter screaming, “holy shhhhhh-”

“What?” he asked groggily.

“You said you were fine!”

“I am fine!”

“You’re burning up! You have a fever of 105! We have to take you to the hospital!”

“Wait, but we can’t,” Mary Jane placed her hand on Peter’s. “Miles doesn’t have a medical ID in this dimension, remember?”

“Well what are we gonna do?!” Peter threw his hands up, almost hitting Mary Jane in the face and not even caring.

“Peter, calm down!” Mary Jane ordered. “You’re not helping anything by screaming.”

“Really, I’m fine,” Miles insisted, trying to get up. Peter pushed him back down.

“No.” He thought. “Okay, yes. You need to change out of your suit into something a lot cooler. Then you should have something more to eat, and we’ll give you some fever reducers and pain killers. And a cold compress on your head. Then you should go back to bed.”

“Good job. That is a much more rational approach than screaming,” Mary Jane patted Peter on the shoulder approvingly.

“I’m sorry,” Miles murmured. Mary Jane shushed him as she helped him sit up and walk to his room.

“No, no, it’s okay. You’re fine, buddy.”

She came back and cocked her head at Peter. “Are  _ you  _ okay?”

“No. What if he’s really sick, MJ? What are we gonna  _ do _ ?”

“We’re gonna get him home. It'll all be okay."


	3. Chapter 3

Something wasn't right. Peter's spidey-sense seldom woke him up at night, only when something was about to attack him. But this felt different. He cautiously tiptoed out of the room and peered into Mary Jane's room. She was fine. Okay. Now Miles. But when he looked into the guest bedroom, all that he saw was an empty bed. The small panic in his chest was not necessarily helped when he heard--perfect timing--a loud retching noise coming from the bathroom.

He opened the door, and sure enough, there was Miles, hunched over the toilet and violently shaking. Instincts that were probably not spider bite induced kicked in, and Peter immediately crouched down by Miles.

"'M sorry," Miles breathed.

"No, no, no, you're okay. You are fine. I mean, probably not fine, because you're tossing your cookies at one in the morning, but I'm not mad. Not even in the slightest. I’m just worried." Peter rubbed Miles' back as the teen puked again. "How long have you been feeling sick?"

"I only started feeling nauseous before I went to bed, but I guess I've been feeling sorta crummy since before I got here," Miles replied.

"Like, how? What's 'crummy' mean?" Peter asked in what MJ called his "dad voice".

"Headache, really tired, stuffy nose, coughing, stomachache," Miles trailed off, "it wasn't-" he broke off and threw up for a third time, and Peter patted his back consolingly.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Peter sighed.

"You were already being so nice to me: you let me stay here and you promised to help me find my way back, I guess I didn't want to bother you. It wasn't that bad anyway. It's nothing I can't han-" Peter cringed as Miles vomited again. He cleared his throat and continued, "you said yourself that you didn't want kids anyway."

"What? No I didn't. I never said that."

“You said, when you first met me," (here Miles cleared his throat again and did his best impression of Peter), "'this is why I never had kids' when I broke the goober."

"That does  _ not _ mean-"

“'This is why I never had kids,' 'this' meaning that they always break and ruin everything and they're useless and pathetic…" Miles rambled, his generalized statement turning a bit more personal as it went on.

"Miles!" Peter interrupted him. It was quiet for a minute. "I never said any of that. You do not break and ruin everything, and you are not useless or pathetic in the slightest."

"You also acted like I was annoying and-"

"Yeah, I  _ did _ think you were annoying, and I was wrong. I was so wrong. This is super selfish, but to be honest, a small part of me doesn't want to have to send you back to your dimension. I know I have to, and don't worry, I will, no matter what! But I like being your substitute dad. You're a great kid, Miles. If we weren't from separate dimensions, and if you didn't have awesome parents who love and must be so worried right now, I would want to be your real dad."

Miles froze. "Would you...would you really?" He asked softly.

"Yes," Peter said, "I would. In an instant. Well, not really in an instant, I'd have to do a bunch of paperwork first, the adoption process is very complicated...but yes, I care about you Miles."

Miles rested his head on Peter's chest for a minute. "I think I'm done throwing up," he said, which he figured was an appropriate response to what Peter had just told him. Peter chuckled slightly. Miles flushed the toilet and Peter handed him a cup of water to rinse out his mouth.

"Alright, let's go find a thermometer to check your temperature, okay?"

Miles nodded.

It was 103. Not quite as bad as 105, but still pretty high.

Peter grimaced. “Okay. Um, let’s get you some more meds, yeah?”

Miles nodded. He took the pills Peter handed him and shivered. “I don’t really wanna go back to bed right now,” he murmured.

“Okay. I’ll stay up with you. Wanna watch a movie?”

“Sure,” Miles stretched and walked toward the couch. Peter sat down next to him and ruffled his hair, absentmindedly wrapping an arm around him. Miles stiffened at this, and as soon as he realized what he did, Peter did too.

They exchanged glances. “Um...sorry,” Peter said awkwardly, and lifted his arm.

“No, it’s okay,” Miles said softly.

Peter swallowed and slowly put his arm back. It felt natural. Besides, if he was going to be Miles’ substitute dad, he was allowed to treat him like his son. He felt Miles’ body relax. They fit together like puzzle pieces. Only...they were from different puzzles. Which wasn’t fair. But they didn’t want to think about that.

Mary Jane walked into the living room that morning to find them asleep, snuggled together with the credits of  _ Star Wars: Attack of the Clones _ rolling on the screen. She grinned, turned off the tv, and let them rest.

***

“Morning, sleeping beauties,” Mary Jane said as Peter and Miles walked into the kitchen.

“I’m a beauty?” Peter grinned, which earned him a swat on the arm with a wooden spoon.

“Miles, are you feeling up to eating anything this morning?” MJ asked him. She felt his forehead, which was still pretty warm. Miles nodded.

“Yeah, I feel a lot better today,” he yawned.

“That’s good.”

The three ate breakfast together at the table. It was like they were a family. MJ found herself getting a little teary-eyed when she saw Miles and Peter together. He would be  _ such _ a great father. She could get used to this.

Miles could, too. He felt a lot more relaxed than he did when he first got there. Maybe he was just too sick to be anxious. But he didn't really think so. It was...it was okay. He was okay.


End file.
